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Boosting agripreneurship development in Karnataka

Hyderabad, India (06 May 2016) —Giving new dimensions to agripreneurship development and to enhance agricultural growth through innovation and partnerships, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) has been signed between the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). This will provide support to set up an agribusiness incubator (ABI) at the University’s Raichur campus, in Karnataka, India.

ICRISAT will help to identify and promote agribusiness start-ups, as well as facilitate agro-technology transfer in the North Karnataka region, which is expected to enhance the impact of outreach activities for the University.

Entrepreneurs will get technical and business development support in seed production, farm machinery and food processing domains. This will be through technical support to develop business models, capacity building and training for incubator personnel, facilitate strategies and systems for technology commercialization and consulting services for promotion of agribusiness in the region.

“This partnership with ICRISAT opens a new chapter for the University in promoting technology and agri-based entrepreneurship in the region,” said Dr PM Salimath, Vice Chancellor of UAS-R.

“ICRISAT and its partners have been successful in facilitating the establishment of agribusiness incubators in India and Africa aimed at engaging youth, women and farmers to initiate small and micro-level agribusiness ventures. We hope to achieve similar results through this partnership with UAS-R,” said Dr Peter Carberry, Deputy Director General (Research), ICRISAT.

The handholding and mentoring support for UAS-R will be provided through the co-business incubation initiative of the Agri-Business Incubation Program — part of the ICRISAT Agribusiness & Innovation Platform (AIP) that focuses on promoting agribusiness ventures and public-private partnership initiatives in the agricultural sector.

ICRISAT AIP provides prototype innovations, knowledge and expertise, training and co-location with researchers for close interaction; while the entrepreneurs fine-tune the prototypes and take them to market, as well as bearing the risks and reaping the rewards involved.

The University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur (UAS-R) was established to help the farming community of the North Eastern dry zone of Karnataka state, with scientific innovations and short and long term solutions to the agricultural problems faced by farmers, through research for growth and new technologies for a sustainable agriculture sector. We also help to uplift the socio-economic status of the farming community through strong Extension linkages. Thus “Greening the life of farming community through Education, Research and Extension”, is our motto.

About ICRISAT

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) is a non-profit, non-political organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa with a wide array of partners throughout the world. Covering 6.5 million square kilometers of land in 55 countries, the semi-arid tropics have over 2 billion people, and 644 million of these are the poorest of the poor. ICRISAT innovations help the dryland poor move from poverty to prosperity by harnessing markets while managing risks – a strategy called Inclusive Market- Oriented development (lMOD). ICRISAT is headquartered in Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, with two regional hubs and six country offices in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a member of the CGIAR Consortium.

CGIAR is a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Its science is carried out by 15 research Centers who are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partner organizations. www.cgiar.org